The present application is based on Japanese priority application No. 9-351673 filed on Dec. 19, 1997 in which the entire contents are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and a system for newly building or modifying a system constructed by a plurality of equipment, for example, a semiconductor device fabrication facility, and particularly relates to a system development supporting device for implementing design, development, modification and maintenance of the system with improved efficiency.
For example, in a wafer process of a semiconductor device fabrication facility, a circuit pattern is formed on a silicon wafer under predetermined conditions using such equipment as oxidization equipment, etching equipment and thin film deposition equipment. Each equipment is controlled by a computer and complicated wafer processes are controlled by a program including a few hundred to a few thousand program steps. In a semiconductor industry, there is a need for multitype low quantity production. Also, the latest technology is frequently introduced into the semiconductor industry. Therefore, in the semiconductor industry, various equipment and/or programs (corresponding to manufacturing conditions) are frequently modified.
2. Description of the Related Art
From the above-described reasons, in the related art, each semiconductor device fabrication facility is individually designed and operated. For example, when building a new fabrication facility, various equipment are introduced which are considered to be appropriate with regard to types and quantities of semiconductor devices to be produced at that fabrication facility. Then, programs for controlling such equipment are customized. As a result, programs, manufacturing conditions, and operations will be different for each fabrication facility.
As described above, various operations will be carried out at each fabrication facility depending on a type of the semiconductor device, a process and a degree of completion of the semiconductor device. Also, a composition of the type of semiconductor device manufactured is different for each fabrication facility, thus processes and manufacturing conditions at each fabrication facility are also different. In other words, an operation of individual equipment is different for each fabrication facility, and, thus, there is no compatibility between each fabrication facility. Therefore, a new design is necessary when newly building a fabrication facility, and, also, modification and maintenance of operations are required for each fabrication facility. Accordingly, the above-described operation of each fabrication facility will be inefficient when regarded as a whole system.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to solve problems related to the above-described prior art.
It is another and more specific object of the present invention to provide a system development supporting device which can, efficiently and easily, support construction of a new fabrication facility, modification of operations and maintenance.
In order to achieve the above objects according to the present invention, a device for supporting development of a system includes first means for registering standard operations of the system into a first library by classifying the standard operations from control and work points of view and second means for registering programs corresponding to a plurality of predetermined system executable functions into a second library by referring to the standard operations registered in the first library. Also, a method to be implemented by such a device, a computer readable medium storing program code for such a method and an article of manufacture including such a computer usable medium are provided.
In the device, method, computer readable medium and article of manufacture, the operations of the fabrication facility are not described by each process step in terms of equipment used or conditions, but are described in terms of control and work so as to concern work to be carried out at each process step and associated items to be controlled. Therefore, it is easy to register common operations into libraries and to customize the system based on the libraries. Also, by having programs for realizing functions required at fabrication facility registered in libraries in advance, it is possible to select and use only necessary functions and to easily provide required functions. As a result, operations for each fabrication facility may be standardized or may be common, and equipment and functions used at each fabrication facility may also be common. Thus, the maintenance is also facilitated.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a device and a method which facilitate the registering of operations into libraries and can easily describe operations required at each fabrication facility.
In order to achieve the above object, the first means registers the standard operations of the system using operation units which are basic units of control and work.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a device and a method which can easily and efficiently obtain fabrication facility operation specifications specifying a system within a certain fabrication facility.
In order to achieve the above object, the system development supporting device further includes third means for creating fabrication facility operation specifications specifying operations of the system by selecting information related to operations of the system from the information registered in the first library and by customizing the selected information. A method to be implemented by such a device is also provided.
It is yet another object of the present invention to easily and efficiently obtain functions necessary for the system.
In order to achieve the above object, the system development supporting further includes fourth means for obtaining functions necessary for the system by selecting functions required for the system from the plurality of functions registered in the second library and by customizing the selected functions. A method to be implemented by such a device is also provided.
It is yet another object of the present invention to easily and efficiently construct a new fabrication facility based on the operations of an existing fabrication facility or modify the operations of an existing fabrication facility.
In order to achieve the above object, the system development supporting device further includes fifth means for determining whether information related to the operations of the system exists in the information registered in the first library, and sixth means for adding operations of the system in to the first library if the fifth means determines that the information related to the operations of the system exists in the information registered in the first library. A method to be implemented by such a device is also provided. Further, in order to achieve the above object, the first library and the fabrication facility operation specifications are of a common format. Also, a method using the second library and the fabrication facility operation specifications of a common format is provided.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.